From 2005 through 2015 I operated a tiny studio electronics company called Eisen Audio, LLC with myself as principal / lead designer, a few contract workers providing labor and assistance, and use of strategic outsourcing. A select archive of our work is showcased below. Eisen Audio was a full-time job and so I did very little recording or mixing during this period.

My primary focus was designing and manufacturing boutique analog equipment for music recording studios. Eisen was one of the first third-party brands to make modules for the API 500 series format, and the first to sell a DIY kit for it. We continued designing in this format for many years because it meant that we would not have to seek safety compliance for power supplies and would not need the space required to store and ship 19” rack-mount chassis or anything else larger than a module.

Eisen Audio’s manufacturing operation grew out of first working for Purple Audio as a staff technician during 2005 - 2006, and then taking over their portion of the famed EXILE tech shop once they moved at the start of 2007. Studio installers Coral Sound continued hosting Eisen Audio in this shop through 2016, and they still operate a version of it today. Purple Audio also continues operations from their new home in Jim Thorpe, PA, and I continued contributing circuit design to their new products for several years after the move.

By sharing a workspace I was privy to a lot of peripheral experience and collaboration. Coral Sound would occasionally involve me in their console restoration and installation projects, as part of building new studios with Fran Manzella Designs. Guest techs like Dan Zellman (Sear Sound) and Joel Katz (Ampex) would sometimes visit. Perhaps most importantly I formed a long-standing informal partnership / mentorship with veteran tech, John Klett (Tech Mecca, Inc.), a fellow shop resident. This lead to us starting the NonLinearAudio brand together in 2011. That same year I also launched the Awesome Transistor Amplifier Company (AwTAC) with ace-engineer Dave Raphael. The three of us would sometimes share an exhibitor’s booth at AES Conventions or ads in Tape Op Magazine. We cultivated a network of boutique equipment dealers with limited success, but the bulk of our sales came from peer-to-peer connections within the studio scene.

Based on these various activities in New York, I developed a reputation online as a designer-for-hire and ended up contributing design consulting to outside brands such as DIY Recording Equipment (Colour Palette), Hairball Audio (Elements preamps), Skibbe Electronics (unreleased), and others unnamed.

In order to further my hands-on insights into equipment design and to help pay the bills, Eisen Audio always provided service (modifications, maintenance, repairs, restorations, rebuild, integration) for vintage analog mixing consoles and a variety of historical equipment at studios all over New York City, and occasionally elsewhere too. My specialty was 80 Series Neve consoles, and this lead to spending time in inspiring old studios such as Rudy Van Gelder’s place.

Eisen Audio, LLC ended in 2016 after I had gradually transitioned to being the de-facto house engineer, resident tech, and operations manager of The Legendary Diamond Mine Recording Studio, a private facility just one mile from my shop which I had helped to build for some service clients during 2013 - 2014. This career pivot wasn’t planned, but the work at Diamond Mine presented itself during a period of time when module sales had languished dangerously. Freelance repair work was not enough to keep my shop and my staff, and so I felt compelled to give up on electronics and return to my first love of making records instead.

I would like to say thank you to all of my great clients who kept Eisen Audio in business for 11 years. Shoutouts to a handful who come to mind: Mavericks Recording NYC , Hyperblallad Music , The Buddy Project , Brooklyn Recording , Acoustic Recording , Morgan Geist , and Victor Axelrod .